Smallholder agricultural production of food staples in many developing countries continues to fail to benefit from Green Revolution advances in productivity while contributing to land-use change and degradation of natural resource quality. The US Agency for International Development is researching and promoting an integrated set of conservation agriculture practices to meet the needs of these producers. Ongoing research in India and Nepal will be summarized regarding the development, adoption, performance, and dissemination of CAPS for maize-based cropping systems. Implications for watershed management and resilience under increased weather variability will be discussed.